Golf: Tiffany Lua ready to give pro tour a try

Mentioning that Rowland Heights' Tiffany Lua will be playing in this week's U.S. Women's Open at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., isn't necessarily news. This will mark her fourth appearance in the most prestigious event in women's golf.

What is news is the former UCLA standout will be competing as a professional.

After years of top-level amateur golf, including participation on two Curtis Cup teams, playing on a Junior Solheim Cup team captained by LPGA Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez, helping lead the Bruins to the 2011 NCAA national championship and reaching the semifinals of the 2011 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, the 22-year-old said she is eager to play golf for a living.

"My parents (Donna and Michael) ask me now how my day was and I say, 'It was good. I went to work,' " Lua joked.

The 5-foot-4, 125-pounder officially made her pro debut earlier this month at Orange Tree Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz., where she competed in an event on the Cactus Tour, a mini-tour circuit for women. Lua finished third and won $1,100.

After the Open, Lua has nothing definite planned on her schedule aside from the first stage of the LPGA Tour's qualifying school, which is scheduled for Aug. 27-30 at the Arnold Palmer and Dinah Shore courses at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. Lua reached this point after tying Rancho Cucamonga's Gabriella Then for low-medalist honors in a local qualifier at Oak Valley Golf Club in Beaumont.

"It's hard to believe how everything has gone by so quickly," Lua said.

"Playing in my first event as a pro, I was a little nervous. It just felt weird. I felt like I had to be a little more serious.

"But at the same time, I was doing the same thing I've always been doing. I've waited 10 years, a decade to get to this point."

Her mother, Donna, a frequent travel partner and caddy in her daughter's first pro event -- "I just drove the cart," she said with a laugh -- said she will be watching with understandable anxiety.

"I have mixed feelings," she said. "I'm kind of nervous, but I'm also excited for her. I'm happy she made that choice after she's worked so hard all these years."

Lua, a psychology major who graduated a quarter early, said she will miss UCLA -- "Just being around the resources and the support system offered to you," she said -- but feels ready to take the next step in her life. Lua, once a competitive swimmer (her favorite events were the butterfly and individual medley), has been thinking about playing professional golf since she was 10 or 11 and doesn't plan on wasting this opportunity.

Which means she will continue to fine-tune her game. She said there's always room for improvement.

Sharpening her game isn't the only challenge that awaits her, she said.

"There are a lot of things that come with turning pro, actually," she said. "I have to find out where I'm going to play, where I'm going to work out, things like that. It's almost like rebuilding your training regimen. In college, all those things were taken care of.

"You have to know what to look for now, what works best for you and figure out how to do that. It's really a big process. There are a lot of responsibilities.

"A lot of little things add up to a lot."

She also said what lies ahead is exciting.

"It really is," she said. "I went through every level and I'm kind of approaching the last level. I still remember local city golf, then junior golf, than USGA, college and now the professional ranks.